The Elder Scrolls Megathread XV: A Song of Ice and Draugr - Games

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;43786477]Is it actually? How fucking big is Tamriel[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.minus.com/iOkHL5ZJu6Yfu.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.minus.com/ibt8024lFpTYAT.jpg[/img] [editline]4th February 2014[/editline] First one's still WiP and second one has Yokuda on 'murica for size comparison, it's closer to Tamriel

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;43786477]Is it actually? How fucking big is Tamriel[/QUOTE] Slightly larger than Asia.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;43786082]A game exclusively set in the imperial city with perhaps an ability to travel to one other city would be sick.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=imadaman;43786057]Would be p. sweet if there was an Assassin's Creed/Dishonoured esque game set in the Imperial City. Well, a part of it, the place is p. fucking big.[/QUOTE] The cancelled Oblivion based game for PSP was gonna be kinda like that.

Huh. First time I've heard of it.

[QUOTE=Monk37900;43785459]How badly does that mist kill your performance?[/QUOTE] The mist by itself doesn't seem to have any real impact on performance. The entire ENB takes me from 60 down to 35-45, depending on what's on screen.

Welp, it's about that time for another round of ESO beta :v:

Yay I'm in ESO Beta. but... What now? Where can I download the client or redeem code? I'm so confused with the layout. [B]Edit:[/B] Nevermind.

Should be in the email.

I got invited, downloading the client now. I guess I'll take some time off of my playing of Skyrim to see if this is any good (it probably isn't).

When it comes to city sizes and the like, Bethesda really need to wake up to the fact that gamers are fine with background filler content that serves no purpose. Even if the actual playable space stayed the same, Whiterun would [i]feel[/i] a lot more like a proper city if they just had a bunch of filler NPCs and some background buildings spread over a large area visible from both inside and outside the city to give the illusion of scale. As it stands, Whiterun doesn't even qualify as a hamlet.

[QUOTE=FlyingDog;43790219]When it comes to city sizes and the like, Bethesda really need to wake up to the fact that gamers are fine with background filler content that serves no purpose. Even if the actual playable space stayed the same, Whiterun would [i]feel[/i] a lot more like a proper city if they just had a bunch of filler NPCs and some background buildings spread over a large area visible from both inside and outside the city to give the illusion of scale. As it stands, Whiterun doesn't even qualify as a hamlet.[/QUOTE] They probably would do that but engine limitations prevents putting in larger amounts of NPCs and objects.

[QUOTE=cdr248;43790351]They probably would do that but engine limitations prevents putting in larger amounts of NPCs and objects.[/QUOTE] Surely, relatively low-detail buildings off in the distance wouldn't tax their engine that much. I understand the technical limitations, but I'm talking about inaccessible far-off useless geometry only there to add some degree of a sense of scale.

what' the best player home you've had? estate, shack, castle, cave or otherwise

Skyrim

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;43790661]what' the best player home you've had? estate, shack, castle, cave or otherwise[/QUOTE] Elysium Estate is pretty good

[QUOTE=Xenomoose;43790207]I got invited, downloading the client now. I guess I'll take some time off of my playing of Skyrim to see if this is any good (it probably isn't).[/QUOTE] That's what I thought, I was honestly just going into the beta to rip on it and get banned. I actually ended up enjoying it quite a bit, although there was plenty that still needs fixing. Tonnes of bugs still, and the impact sounds are seemingly missing for some weapons.

[QUOTE=FlyingDog;43790455]Surely, relatively low-detail buildings off in the distance wouldn't tax their engine that much. I understand the technical limitations, but I'm talking about inaccessible far-off useless geometry only there to add some degree of a sense of scale.[/QUOTE] But then Todd Howard can't go, "See that mountain off in the distance? You can climb it!"

Is there a mod anywhere that fixes that annoying super speed bug in Skyrim? The one where if you're sneaking and you pull out a bow or any weapon really you go like twice as fast for no reason until you stop moving.

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;43790661]what' the best player home you've had? estate, shack, castle, cave or otherwise[/QUOTE] mod or non-mod? mod, it would have to be this stargate mod for oblivion that led to a home surrounded in a beautiful area with a nice waterfall, and a neat little home that had plenty o cases and shit to stash all my goods non-mod, probably the homes in skyrim.

[QUOTE=woolio1;43791634]But then Todd Howard can't go, "See that mountain off in the distance? You can climb it!"[/QUOTE] Truthfully, if there were parts of the province or city where I could straight-up not go, I would shake my head at the designers. Freedom of exploration is THE critical thing of the Elder Scrolls gameplay-wise. [editline]5th February 2014[/editline] It makes me sad I cannot adopt all the street orphans.

[QUOTE=imadaman;43787724]Huh. First time I've heard of it.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion_(PSP)"]http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion_(PSP)[/URL] Sadly it was never released.

Looks like I'm the next ESO beta. Looking forward to giving it a go.

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;43790661]what' the best player home you've had? estate, shack, castle, cave or otherwise[/QUOTE] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=77618384]I really like Kagrenac's Instant Fortress[/url].

I'm in the Beta again. Hopefully they made some progress with the gameplay or animations.

i haven't checked my email but i could log into the website and download the client installer so lets see if i get something other than a black screen this time

[QUOTE=FlyingDog;43790219]When it comes to city sizes and the like, Bethesda really need to wake up to the fact that gamers are fine with background filler content that serves no purpose. Even if the actual playable space stayed the same, Whiterun would [i]feel[/i] a lot more like a proper city if they just had a bunch of filler NPCs and some background buildings spread over a large area visible from both inside and outside the city to give the illusion of scale. As it stands, Whiterun doesn't even qualify as a hamlet.[/QUOTE] Agreed. Even having non-enterable doors that ere just like 'Whiterun X' or, say, 'Megaton Gardens' or whatever would be [I]something[/I] In the meantime, may I suggest the Dawn of Whiterun mod? It adds more market stalls around Whiterun, with voice acted NPCs. The NPCs, I'm pretty sure, are originally voice acted, and the voice acting is honestly so good that it took me till the second talk with one of them to realize it wasn't vanilla. The stalls are all based on things like food, liquor, spell tomes, etc. and they're all pretty balanced. Except for the spell tomes guy. He has about a million spell tomes, so I've simply concluded not to buy from him and let him be flavor material only. Aside from that, the mod adds some fresh vegetation without being too much, and some banners and things. It also converts the top part of the Guard Barracks, which used to be some sort of, I dunno, useless lookout, into a warehouse owned by the East Empire Company. Overall, the mod adds a lot but it never oversteps it's bounds and it still feels within acceptable, lore friendly limits. That combined with interesting NPCs has left Whiterun fairly full, and lively, but if that's not your cup of tea, there are things like Lively Inns and Taverns available.

[QUOTE=DiscoInferno;43792853]Truthfully, if there were parts of the province or city where I could straight-up not go, I would shake my head at the designers. Freedom of exploration is THE critical thing of the Elder Scrolls gameplay-wise. [editline]5th February 2014[/editline] It makes me sad I cannot adopt all the street orphans.[/QUOTE] This. The point of Elder Scrolls games is the whole, "See that? Go there." schtick. If there were places that you simply couldn't get to, it'd be like playing a Bioware game. Not that there's anything wrong with Bioware games, but it's a totally different experience. [editline]5th February 2014[/editline] Personally, I'm more than happy with how they've been handling it thus far. Could it be improved? Of course. But I don't think it needs improving to the detriment of one of the series' key aspects.

I got Oblivion to run at about 35FPS on my shitty PC on low. It runs at an amazing 400p.

[QUOTE=DiscoInferno;43792853]Truthfully, if there were parts of the province or city where I could straight-up not go, I would shake my head at the designers. Freedom of exploration is THE critical thing of the Elder Scrolls gameplay-wise. [editline]5th February 2014[/editline] It makes me sad I cannot adopt all the street orphans.[/QUOTE] Honestly, there's not exactly a reason the cities can't be huge. They've shown they have the ability to make massive cities with Mournhold. It was huge, and they got around the issue with putting it all in the world map by making it a series of interior cells. They did the same with Solstheim in Dawnguard in a slightly different manner, and I really liked how that was handled. If they used that same system to allow for larger cities, which is entirely possible, that could be fantastic. However, it seems their approach to city design is to have everything enterable, and nothing there to just flesh things out. That's probably the biggest problem with their sense of scale. If they could make the cities bigger, and toss in some locked houses to flesh things out, it'd be perfectly fine. Can someone tell me if ESO feels more to-scale?

[QUOTE=woolio1;43793721]Honestly, there's not exactly a reason the cities can't be huge. They've shown they have the ability to make massive cities with Mournhold. It was huge, and they got around the issue with putting it all in the world map by making it a series of interior cells. They did the same with Solstheim in Dawnguard in a slightly different manner, and I really liked how that was handled. If they used that same system to allow for larger cities, which is entirely possible, that could be fantastic. However, it seems their approach to city design is to have everything enterable, and nothing there to just flesh things out. That's probably the biggest problem with their sense of scale. If they could make the cities bigger, and toss in some locked houses to flesh things out, it'd be perfectly fine. Can someone tell me if ESO feels more to-scale?[/QUOTE] However, if they just tossed in some extra, non-enter-able, houses, it would be going against the precedent that's be set by every game thus far. Again, the big thing about TES is that if you can see it, you can go to it. You break that once you start saying "but not in [I]here[/I]". You either end with a game like ME or KOTR, where there's a series of relatively small and detailed areas inside which the plot plays out neatly and you can't deviate; or you get something like SR or GTA, where there's one massive world in which you can deviate, but every individual piece of that world is fairly bland. With the current system, you get the same detailed(ish) environments and that massive world. Besides, TES games are built for the wilderness. The cities pretty much only exist as a hub for quests and shops.